Who exactly would be “holding it to contain international outrage?” The Dutch and Malaysians are the ones who have the passenger manifests. They are the primary victims. Why would they want to contain international outrage?
Where are the names of the twenty “unknown” passengers, and why do we suspect that they were Americans?
Dumb question: Don’t international passengers have to show their passports to be allowed to board, and doesn’t this information go on the final manifest?
So that in the wake of a terrorist incident the destination country isn’t screaming at the airline, “Why did you let this person on the plane!!?”